A new 100,000-seat stadium that will be the largest in the UK. A venue covered in a “vast umbrella” that would exceed the scale of Christo’s wrapping of the Reichstag in 1995. A trident of masts, the tallest of which is higher any other building in Manchester. Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s vision for a new Old Trafford is taking shape, and the ambition extends beyond the “Wembley of the North”.
On Tuesday designs were unveiled for Manchester United’s proposed new home, to be built on the site of the Old Trafford car park. The project was initiated by a call from Ratcliffe to Norman Foster and scoped out by a taskforce led by Sebastian Coe, and the cast list endorsing it is gold-plated. At a projected cost of £2bn, and to be assembled using prefabricated “modules” shipped down the Manchester ship canal, it could be delivered in five years, the architects suggest. Foster + Partners hopes to begin work this year and United are aiming to move into the new stadium for the 2030-31 season.
